Multiple Personalities Support Group

Dissociative identity disorder is a diagnosis described as the existence in an individual of two or more distinct identities or personalities, each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment. At least two of these personalities are considered to routinely take control of the individual's behavior, and there is also some associated memory loss,...

I'd love to talk to you about anything you want to know, that I have found about myself, and what I have read.

One thing about this disorder, as opposed to most other mental health issues, is that it is relatively newly discovered, and sometimes not even believed the condition exists, even among psychology professionals.

So, the rules and information are constantly changing, as more new discoveries are made.

I think what is becoming more apparent, is that it is not as rare as once was thought. And unfortunately, that means a lot of us who manage to keep things under wraps, go on suffering because we are not believed.

As far as everything that comes with it, that is very individual, and there are several possible presentations of this condition....having to do with several variables....

such as, whether the person is an introvert or an extrovert to begin with, the extent of their abuse, the strength of their personality in general, their intelligence, etc.

Basically, this disorder, which is not really a disorder, because it is a coping mechanism, not a dysfunction of the brain, is caused by severe and repatative abuse of a young child. Generally speaking, usually by the primary caretaker, and usually before the age of 5.
The reason it happens, is because the small child cannot physically fight back or leave the situation, so the only way to cope is to develop a completely different personality, or more, to be able to keep from losing their mind completely. THis can only happen if the child's personality has not yet completely formed, so that is why it must happen before the age of 5. But once the ability has happened, other alters can be formed....theory has it, that some people get in the habit of &quot;splitting&quot; in the presence of stress, and may have hundreds, or even thousands, of alters. But who is to know for sure?

I just want to add a couple of specific comments to starfish's wonderful reply...

1) Dissociation is one of the most primitive coping mechanisms... it is the one that is actually *available* before the personality is formed, which is why, I think, really young children use it. It's kinda like the *fight/flight* mechanism of the body, which is activated before other responses are available, using other parts of the brain. Young children don't have coping mechanisms like rationalization to muster during traumatization.

2) While DID seems to be a novel diagnosis with everybody wondering *why* it's sudden appearance on the scene nowadays, dissociative fugue has been present across time and cultures. The Alaska Natives (Tlingit) have a very old myth about the Kushtaka (the otter-man) who lures un-suspecting souls to suddenly walk away from their homes/family usually to never return- yet according to some stories occasionally later reappear days/weeks/months later - with no memories of what actually happened to them or why they would do so - typical explanations are that they heard a baby crying or followed voices they thought they recognized. Many tribal cultures have acknowledged different forms of identity/memory confusion and accepted that the phenomena occurred without necessarily ostracizing the people to whom it happened to.

3) I like the distinction you make regarding the expression of DID for introverts/extroverts... what this means is that extroverted style is one that typically responds by interacting with others (psychic energy flows outward), while introverts tend to withdraw into themselves (psychic energy flows inward). Neither style is better than the other, but some kind of balance or ability to consciously move between styles is beneficial.

A friend sent this to me..As far as I can see, grief will never truly end.It may become softer overtime, more gentleand some days will feel sharp.But grief will last as long as Love does - ForeverIt's simply the way the absence of your loved onemanifests in your heart. A deep longing accompaniedby the deepest Love some days. The heavy fog mayreturn and the next day, it may recede.Once again, it's...

Today is my 25th birthday, to my somewhat lack of surprise I can see already no one really seems to care. I've always been the kinda person to make sure that everyone I Care about feels appreciated and knew somebody had their back. I can count 4 times this year when I Went out of my way to make sure a "friend" felt good on their birthday, especially if they got left hanging. Its early in the...

All content posted on this site is the responsibility of the party posting such content.
Participation on this site by a party does not imply endorsement of any other party's content,
products, or services. Content should not be used for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.